A. Well, I know it is with me—­every last
sentence of it; and a couple of hods of Ollendorff,
too, for emergencies. Maybe they’ll refuse
to deliver—­right off—­at first,
you know—­der Verlegenheit wegen—­aber
ich will sie spater herausholen—­when I
get my hand in—­und vergisst Du das nicht!

M. Sei nicht grob, Liebste. What shall we talk
about first—­when they come?

A. Well—­let me see. There’s
shopping—­and—­all that about the
trains, you know—­and going to church—­and—­buying
tickets to London, and Berlin, and all around—­and
all that subjunctive stuff about the battle in Afghanistan,
and where the American was said to be born, and so
on—­and —­and ah—­oh,
there’s so many things—­I don’t
think a body can choose beforehand, because you know
the circumstances and the atmosphere always have so
much to do in directing a conversation, especially
a German conversation, which is only a kind of an
insurrection, anyway. I believe it’s best
to just depend on Prov—­(Glancing at watch,
and gasping.) —­half-past—­seven!